Senior Applied Research Scientist, Firsthand
$160-210k
+ Equity
3 days a week in office
AI-powered brand agents built for marketers and publishers
Open for applications
AI-powered brand agents built for marketers and publishers
21-100 employees
Open for applications
$160-210k
+ Equity
3 days a week in office
21-100 employees
Company mission
To leverage the power of AI to drive first hand connections between publishers, brands, and consumers.
Role
Who you are
- This is a hands-on role — we need a doer who thrives in a startup environment with a high degree of freedom and ambiguity
- 2+ years of professional experience in AI, with leadership experience
- Deep understanding of software engineering principles and proficiency in Python, AI frameworks, and modern tooling for agents and evals. Experience with deep learning and reinforcement learning is a plus
- Hands-on builder who takes ownership and drives projects to completion
- Extensive experience shipping AI systems in production, particularly agents and LLM-powered applications
- Strong communicator who works well cross-functionally with engineering and product teams
- Advertising or marketing-related experience is a strong plus
- If you are ready to embark on an exhilarating journey at the forefront of AI, seize this incredible opportunity and apply here. We eagerly anticipate hearing from you!
What the job involves
- We are seeking a Senior Applied Research Scientist to drive our product's AI and agent capabilities
- You will join a lean team of applied researchers while working closely with engineering and product teams to translate research into production-ready AI agents
- Drive the full life-cycle of AI systems from conception through deployment, including building robust evaluation frameworks to measure and improve agent performance
- Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to integrate AI capabilities into the product experience
- Stay at the forefront of AI by exploring the latest advancements in agents, evals, and applied AI research
- Provide strategic direction and mentorship while contributing directly to prototyping, building, and iterating on AI systems
Our take
Until recently, brands and publishers lacked a practical means to interact in real-time, 1-1 conversations and provide content with customers both on and off their digital platforms. Firsthand is a specialized AI agent platform designed to cater to the needs of publishers and brands.
The platform offers a solution that allows publishers and brands to manage, safeguard, and utilize their data and content in direct conversational campaigns driven by tailored AI agents. This capability extends to various online channels where consumers actively seek information.
Now, with significant funding behind it, Firsthand is scaling its AI-powered brand agent after a successful pilot with select brands and publishers. Because of this, its emerging as a key player in AI-driven consumer interactions and building the infrastructure for the next wave of intelligent brand engagement.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Company
Funding (1 round)
Mar 2025
$26m
SERIES A
Total funding: $26m
Company benefits
- Flexible work model: We embrace the flexibility of hybrid work, combining the energy of in-person collaboration in New York City with the freedom of working remotely
- Benefits that meet your needs: We offer unlimited PTO, 401(k) from day 1, zero-cost medical plans, and paid parental leave, with benefits that are constantly evolving as our company grows
Company HQ
Midtown South, New York, NY
Leadership
Jonathan Heller
(Co-Founder, Co-CEO & Chairman)Prior to co-founding Firsthand in 2023, Jonathan co-founded Multitude.ai where they served as the CEO for 4 years. They also co-founded FreeWheel where they served as the CEO for 11 years and served as the CPO of Comcast Advanced Advertising for 1.5 years.
Michael Rubenstein
(Co-Founder, Co-CEO & Board Director)Michael previously Founded DoubleClick Ad Exchange where they served as a General Manager for nearly 4 years before the company was acquired by Google.
Wei Wei
(Co-Founder & CTO)Wei previously co-founded Flux (now Beamery) where they served as the CTO for 5 years. Prior to that, they spent nearly 11 years at FreeWheel, joining as an Engineer before working their way up to the role of VP of Engineering.
Salary benchmarks
We don't have enough data yet to provide salary benchmarks for this role.
Submit your salary to help other candidates with crowdsourced salary estimates.
Share this job
View 2 more jobs at Firsthand